Mountains Under Foot

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 75: July 23, 2009
Travel:
From: The Mayor’s place (Unionville, NY) to NY 17A (SOBO) then back
To: The Mayor’s place (Unionville, NY)
Beginning: 8:00am
Ending: 7:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 26.9
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 1361.9 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Overcast again.
PM: Skies got dark and threatening, drizzled for two seconds then the storm blew away.
People: Saw Fancypants & Gozer on the trail, tons of new people at the Mayor’s, Natty & Many Names made it.
Animals: The small furry ones that nibble your food and mosquitoes.
Money: $6 sub, $5 drink & ice cream, $20 resupply. $1318 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Some one’s alarm started going off around 5:30am and seemed to continue to go off every fifteen minutes. I finally rolled out of my bunk around 6:30am and went upstairs for breakfast. All I had to do was sit down at the table and I was served a plate with a cheese omelet, sausage, hash browns, and toast by Bill. After breakfast, Dick drove us to the general store/deli to pick up some delicious subs, then out to 17A for our first slackpack. Slackpacking is when you take everything out of your pack but food and water and get dropped off up the trail to hike back to where you stayed the night before (in this case). We got dropped off 6 miles into NY heading back into NJ and then back onto Unionville, NY. Weird, I know. The first part of the day had us scrambling up huge boulders and rock walls. Thankfully, it hadn’t rained recently or else things would have been really treacherous. Six miles in, we hit the state line identified by paint on the rocks, and saw Fancypants & Gozer. At Wawayanda State Park we indulged in our magnificent deli sandwiches on the picnic area. Next stop on the trail was Vernon, NJ where we were told a great ice cream shop was just down the road from where the trail crosses it. On the way, I ran into Lion King going the other direction and we chatted for a bit and I made sure I knew where the ice cream was by asking him. He truly is a database of AT knowledge.

PM: I had to make a tough decision between small or large and then what flavors to choose. It was all so overwhelming for a simple bum such as myself. I walked away with a trifecta of tastiness: chocolate chip cookie dough, mint chocolate chip, and chocolate. I indulged for a very long time. Then it was time to hoof it back into town (Unionville) and thankfully the trail was about as easy as it comes. Coming back down to Quarry Road I noticed a beautiful newly built home visible from the AT. I tramped into the woods a bit to take a picture and the owner of the home came out onto the porch to greet me. I complimented her on the house and she said they purchased the property because it was next to the AT and they hoped to open a hostel one day. I told her I’d have to come back one day when they’re open. I continued down to the store where Croc and Spoon were waiting. We needed to resupply, so we put together some meals the best we could. As we were checking out, Butch walked in and told us to get in the truck when we were done and he would take us up to the house. He told us the house was packed and there would be 26 people staying there tonight and he wasn’t lying. Most everyone had already eaten so I asked Bill if we could serve ourselves some soup and he replied with, “No! Sit down at the table.” We all complied and soup was laid before us immediately. I can really dig this place. After the newbies watched their video we grabbed the TV and put in the movie “Into the Wild” and watched that until way past our bedtime.